A battleship is a sailing military vessel made of wood with a displacement of up to 6 thousand tons. They had up to 135 guns on their sides, arranged in several rows, and up to 800 crew members. These ships were used in naval battles using so-called linear battle tactics in the 17th to 19th centuries.

The emergence of battleships

The name “ship of the line” has been known since the time of the sailing fleet. During this time, the multi-decks lined up in one line in order to fire a salvo of all guns at the enemy. It was the simultaneous fire from all onboard guns that caused significant damage to the enemy. Soon such battle tactics began to be called linear. The formation of ships in a line during naval battles was first used by the English and Spanish navies in the early 17th century.

The ancestors of battleships are galleons with heavy weapons, carracks. The first mention of them appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 17th century. These models of battleships were much lighter and shorter than galleons. Such qualities allowed them to maneuver faster, that is, line up with the side facing the enemy. It was necessary to line up in such a way that the bow of the next ship was necessarily directed towards the stern of the previous one. Why weren’t they afraid to expose the sides of their ships to enemy attacks? Because the multilayer wooden sides were reliable protection for the ship from enemy cannonballs.

The process of formation of battleships

Soon a multi-deck sailing battleship appeared, which for more than 250 years became the main means of warfare at sea. Progress did not stand still; thanks to the latest methods for calculating hulls, it became possible to cut cannon ports into several tiers at the very beginning of construction. In this way, it was possible to calculate the strength of the ship even before it was launched. In the mid-17th century, a clear distinction between classes emerged:

1. Old double deckers. These are ships whose decks are located one above the other. They are lined with 50 cannons firing at the enemy through windows on the sides of the ship. These floating craft did not have sufficient strength to conduct linear combat and were mainly used as escorts for convoys.
2. Double-decker battleships with 64 to 90 guns represented the bulk of the fleet.
3. Three- or four-decker ships with 98-144 guns served as flagships. A fleet containing 10-25 such ships could control trade lines and, in the event of war, block them for the enemy.

Differences between battleships and others

The sailing equipment of frigates and battleships is the same - three-masted. Each one necessarily had straight sails. But still, a frigate and a battleship have some differences. The first has only one closed battery, and battleships have several. In addition, the latter have a much larger number of guns, and this also applies to the height of the sides. But frigates are more maneuverable and can operate even in shallow water.

A ship of the line differs from a galleon in having straight sails. In addition, the latter does not have a rectangular turret at the stern and a latrine at the bow. A battleship is superior to a galleon in both speed and maneuverability, as well as in artillery combat. The latter is more suitable for boarding combat. Among other things, they were very often used to transport troops and cargo.

The appearance of battleships in Russia

Before the reign of Peter I, there were no such structures in Russia. The first Russian battleship was called “Goto Predestination”. By the twenties of the 18th century, the Russian Imperial Navy already included 36 such ships. At the beginning these were complete copies of Western models, but by the end of the reign of Peter I, Russian battleships began to have their own distinctive features. They were much shorter and had less shrinkage, which negatively affected seaworthiness. These ships were very well suited to the conditions of the Azov and then the Baltic seas. The emperor himself was directly involved in the design and construction. The Russian Navy had its name, the Russian Imperial Navy, from October 22, 1721 to April 16, 1917. Only people from the nobility could serve as naval officers, and recruits from the common people could serve as sailors on ships. Their service in the navy was lifelong.

Battleship "Twelve Apostles"

“12 Apostles” was laid down in 1838 and launched in 1841 in the city of Nikolaev. This is a ship with 120 cannons on board. There were only 3 ships of this type. These ships were distinguished not only by their grace and beauty of form, they had no equal in battle among sailing ships. The battleship "12 Apostles" was the first in the Russian Imperial Navy to be armed with new bomb guns.

The fate of the ship was such that it was unable to participate in a single battle of the Black Sea Fleet. Its hull remained intact and did not receive a single hole. But this ship became an exemplary training center; it provided the defense of Russian forts and fortresses in the western Caucasus. In addition, the ship was engaged in transporting land troops and went on long voyages for 3-4 months. The ship was subsequently sunk.

Reasons why battleships lost their importance

The position of wooden battleships as the main force at sea was shaken due to the development of artillery. Heavy bombing guns easily pierced the wooden side with bombs filled with gunpowder, thereby causing serious damage to the ship and causing fires. If earlier artillery did not pose a great threat to the hulls of ships, then bombing guns could send Russian battleships to the bottom with just a few dozen hits. Since that time, the question of protecting structures with metal armor arose.

In 1848, screw propulsion and relatively powerful steam engines were invented, so wooden sailing ships slowly began to fade from the scene. Some ships were converted and equipped with steam units. Several large ships with sails were also produced; out of habit, they were called linear.

Linemen of the Imperial Navy

In 1907, a new class of ships appeared; in Russia they were called linear, or battleships for short. These are armored artillery warships. Their displacement ranged from 20 to 65 thousand tons. If we compare battleships of the 18th century and battleships, the latter have a length from 150 to 250 m. They are armed with a gun of caliber from 280 to 460 mm. The battleship's crew ranges from 1,500 to 2,800 people. The ship was used to destroy the enemy as part of a combat formation and artillery support for ground operations. The ships were given their name not so much in memory of battleships, but because they needed to revive the tactics of linear combat.

Exactly seventy years ago, the Soviet Union began implementing a seven-year program of “large naval shipbuilding” - one of the most expensive and ambitious projects in the history of domestic, and not only domestic, military equipment.

The main leaders of the program were considered to be heavy artillery ships - battleships and cruisers, which were to become the largest and most powerful in the world. Although the super-battleships were never completed, there is still great interest in them, especially in light of the recent fashion for alternative history. So what were the projects of the “Stalinist giants” and what preceded their appearance?

Lords of the Seas

The fact that the main force of the fleet are battleships has been considered an axiom for almost three centuries. From the time of the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th century until the Battle of Jutland in 1916, the outcome of the war at sea was decided by an artillery duel of two fleets lined up in wake lines (hence the origin of the term “ship of the line”, or battleship for short). Faith in the omnipotence of the battleship was not undermined by either the appearance of aviation or submarines. After World War I, most admirals and naval theorists continued to measure the strength of fleets by the number of heavy guns, the total weight of the broadside, and the thickness of the armor. But it was precisely this exceptional role of battleships, considered the undisputed rulers of the seas, that played a cruel joke on them...

The evolution of battleships in the first decades of the twentieth century was truly rapid. If at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the largest representatives of this class, then called squadron battleships, had a displacement of about 15 thousand tons, then the famous “Dreadnought”, built in England two years later (this name became a household name for its many followers), had a full the displacement was already 20,730 tons. The Dreadnought seemed to its contemporaries a giant and the height of perfection. However, by 1912, compared to the latest super-dreadnoughts, it looked like a completely ordinary ship of the second line... And four years later, the British laid down the famous Hood with a displacement of 45 thousand tons! Incredibly, powerful and expensive ships, in the context of a rampant arms race, became obsolete in just three or four years, and their serial construction became extremely burdensome even for the richest countries.

Why did this happen? The fact is that every warship is a compromise of many factors, three of which are considered the main ones: weapons, protection and speed. Each of these components “ate up” a significant part of the ship’s displacement, since artillery, armor, and bulky power plants with numerous boilers, fuel, steam engines or turbines were very heavy. And designers, as a rule, had to sacrifice one of the fighting qualities in favor of another. Thus, the Italian shipbuilding school was characterized by fast and heavily armed, but poorly protected battleships. The Germans, on the contrary, prioritized survivability and built ships with very powerful armor, but moderate speed and light artillery. The desire to ensure a harmonious combination of all characteristics, taking into account the trend of constant increase in the main caliber, led to a monstrous increase in the size of the ship.

Paradoxical as it may seem, the appearance of the long-awaited “ideal” battleships - fast, heavily armed and protected by powerful armor - brought the very idea of ​​​​such ships to complete absurdity. Of course: because of their high cost, floating monsters undermined the economies of their own countries more significantly than the invasions of enemy armies! At the same time, they almost never went to sea: the admirals did not want to risk such valuable combat units, since the loss of even one of them was practically equivalent to a national catastrophe. Battleships have transformed from a means of warfare at sea into an instrument of big politics. And the continuation of their construction was no longer determined by tactical expediency, but by completely different motives. Having such ships for the prestige of the country in the first half of the twentieth century meant about the same as having nuclear weapons now.

The governments of all countries were aware of the need to stop the spinning flywheel of the naval arms race, and in 1922, at an international conference convened in Washington, radical measures were taken. Delegations of the most influential states agreed to significantly reduce their naval forces and fix the total tonnage of their own fleets in a certain proportion over the next 15 years. During the same period, the construction of new battleships was stopped almost everywhere. The only exception was made for Great Britain - the country forced to scrap the largest number of completely new dreadnoughts. But those two battleships that the British could build would hardly have had an ideal combination of combat qualities, since their displacement should have been measured at 35 thousand tons.

The Washington Conference was the first real step in history to limit offensive weapons on a global scale. It gave the global economy some respite. But nothing more. Since the apotheosis of the “battleship race” was yet to come...

The dream of a "big fleet"

By 1914, the Russian Imperial Navy ranked first in the world in terms of growth rates. On the stocks of shipyards in St. Petersburg and Nikolaev, powerful dreadnoughts were laid one after another. Russia recovered quite quickly from its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and again laid claim to the role of a leading maritime power.

However, the revolution, civil war and general devastation left no trace of the former naval power of the empire. The Red Fleet inherited from the “tsarist regime” only three battleships - “Petropavlovsk”, “Gangut” and “Sevastopol”, renamed respectively “Marat”, “October Revolution” and “Paris Commune”. By the standards of the 1920s, these ships already looked hopelessly outdated. It is not surprising that Soviet Russia was not invited to the Washington Conference: its fleet was not taken seriously at that time.

At first, the Red Fleet really did not have any special prospects. The Bolshevik government had much more urgent tasks than restoring its former naval power. In addition, the first persons of the state, Lenin and Trotsky, looked at the navy as an expensive toy and a tool of world imperialism. Therefore, during the first decade and a half of the existence of the Soviet Union, the ship composition of the RKKF was replenished slowly and mainly only with boats and submarines. But in the mid-1930s, the naval doctrine of the USSR changed dramatically. By that time, the “Washington battleship vacation” was over and all the world powers began feverishly to catch up. Two international treaties signed in London tried to somehow restrain the size of future battleships, but everything turned out to be in vain: practically none of the countries participating in the agreements was going to honestly fulfill the signed conditions from the very beginning. France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the USA and Japan began creating a new generation of leviathan ships. Stalin, inspired by the success of industrialization, also did not want to stand aside. And the Soviet Union became another participant in a new round of the naval arms race.

In July 1936, the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR, with the blessing of the Secretary General, approved a seven-year program of “large naval shipbuilding” for 1937-1943 (due to the cacophony of the official name in the literature, it is usually called the “Big Fleet” program). In accordance with it, it was planned to build 533 ships, including 24 battleships! For the Soviet economy of that time, the figures were absolutely unrealistic. Everyone understood this, but no one dared to object to Stalin.

In fact, Soviet designers began developing a project for a new battleship back in 1934. The matter progressed with difficulty: they completely lacked experience in creating large ships. We had to attract foreign specialists - first Italian, then American. In August 1936, after analyzing various options, the terms of reference for the design of battleships of type “A” (project 23) and “B” (project 25) were approved. The latter was soon abandoned in favor of the Project 69 heavy cruiser, but Type A gradually developed into an armored monster that left far behind all its foreign counterparts. Stalin, who had a weakness for giant ships, could be pleased.

First of all, we decided not to limit the displacement. The USSR was not bound by any international agreements, and therefore, already at the technical design stage, the standard displacement of the battleship reached 58,500 tons. The thickness of the armor belt was 375 millimeters, and in the area of ​​the bow towers - 420! There were three armored decks: 25 mm upper, 155 mm main and 50 mm lower anti-fragmentation. The hull was equipped with solid anti-torpedo protection: in the central part of the Italian type, and in the extremities - of the American type.

The artillery armament of the Project 23 battleship included nine 406-mm B-37 guns with a barrel length of 50 calibers, developed by the Stalingrad Barrikady plant. The Soviet cannon could fire 1,105-kilogram shells to a range of 45.6 kilometers. In terms of its characteristics, it was superior to all foreign guns of this class - with the exception of the 18-inch guns of the Japanese super-battleship Yamato. However, the latter, having heavier shells, were inferior to the B-37 in terms of firing range and rate of fire. In addition, the Japanese kept their ships so secret that until 1945 no one knew anything about them. In particular, Europeans and Americans were confident that the caliber of Yamato artillery did not exceed 16 inches, that is, 406 millimeters.

The Japanese battleship Yamato is the largest warship of World War II. Laid down in 1937, entered service in 1941. Total displacement - 72,810 tons. Length - 263 m, width - 36.9 m, draft - 10.4 m. Armament: 9 - 460 mm and 12 - 155 -mm guns, 12 - 127 mm anti-aircraft guns, 24 - 25 mm machine guns, 7 seaplanes

The main power plant of the Soviet battleship is three turbo-gear units with a capacity of 67 thousand liters each. With. For the lead ship, the mechanisms were purchased from the Swiss branch of the English company Brown Boveri; for the rest, the power plant was to be manufactured under license by the Kharkov Turbine Plant. It was assumed that the speed of the battleship would be 28 knots and the cruising range at 14 knots would be over 5,500 miles.

Meanwhile, the “large maritime shipbuilding” program was revised. In the new “Great Shipbuilding Program,” approved by Stalin in February 1938, “small” battleships of type “B” no longer appeared, but the number of “large” Project 23 increased from 8 to 15 units. True, none of the experts doubted that this number, as well as the previous plan, belonged to the realm of pure fantasy. After all, even the “mistress of the seas” Great Britain and ambitious Nazi Germany expected to build only 6 to 9 new battleships. Realistically assessing the capabilities of the industry, the top leadership of our country had to limit themselves to four ships. And this turned out to be impossible: the construction of one of the ships was stopped almost immediately after laying.

The lead battleship (Soviet Union) was laid down at the Leningrad Baltic Shipyard on July 15, 1938. It was followed by “Soviet Ukraine” (Nikolaev), “Soviet Russia” and “Soviet Belarus” (Molotovsk, now Severodvinsk). Despite the mobilization of all forces, construction was behind schedule. By June 22, 1941, the first two ships had the highest degree of readiness, 21% and 17.5%, respectively. At the new plant in Molotovsk, things were much worse. Although in 1940 they decided to build one instead of two battleships, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War its readiness had reached only 5%.

The deadlines for the production of artillery and armor were also not met. Although in October 1940, tests of an experimental 406-mm gun were successfully completed and before the start of the war, the Barrikady plant managed to deliver 12 barrels of naval superguns, not a single turret was assembled. There were even more problems with the release of the armor. Due to the loss of experience in the manufacture of thick armor plates, up to 40% of them were scrapped. And negotiations on ordering armor from the Krupp company ended in nothing.

The attack of Nazi Germany crossed out the plans for the creation of the “Big Fleet”. By government decree of July 10, 1941, the construction of battleships was stopped. Later, the armor plates of the “Soviet Union” were used in the construction of pillboxes near Leningrad, and the experimental B-37 gun also fired at the enemy there. “Soviet Ukraine” was captured by the Germans, but they did not find any use for the gigantic corps. After the war, the issue of completing the battleships according to one of the improved designs was discussed, but in the end they were dismantled for metal, and a section of the hull of the parent "Soviet Union" was even launched in 1949 - it was planned to be used for full-scale testing of the torpedo protection system. At first they wanted to install the turbines received from Switzerland on one of the new light cruisers of the 68-bis project, but then they abandoned this: too many alterations were required.

Good cruisers or bad battleships?

Heavy cruisers of Project 69 appeared in the “Great Shipbuilding Program,” of which, like A-type battleships, it was planned to build 15 units. But these were not just heavy cruisers. Since the Soviet Union was not bound by any international treaties, the restrictions of the Washington and London conferences for ships of this class (standard displacement up to 10 thousand tons, artillery caliber no more than 203 millimeters) were immediately discarded by Soviet designers. Project 69 was conceived as a destroyer of any foreign cruisers, including the formidable German “pocket battleships” (displacing 12,100 tons). Therefore, at first its main armament was supposed to include nine 254 mm guns, but then the caliber was increased to 305 mm. At the same time, it was necessary to strengthen the armor protection, increase the power of the power plant... As a result, the total displacement of the ship exceeded 41 thousand tons, and the heavy cruiser turned into a typical battleship, even larger in size than the planned Project 25. Of course, the number of such ships had to be reduced. In reality, in 1939, only two “supercruisers” were laid down in Leningrad and Nikolaev - “Kronstadt” and “Sevastopol”.

The heavy cruiser Kronstadt was laid down in 1939, but was not completed. Total displacement 41,540 tons. Maximum length - 250.5 m, width - 31.6 m, draft - 9.5 m. Turbine power - 201,000 l. s., speed - 33 knots (61 km/h). The thickness of the side armor is up to 230 mm, the thickness of the turrets is up to 330 mm. Armament: 9 305 mm and 8 - 152 mm guns, 8 - 100 mm anti-aircraft guns, 28 - 37 mm machine guns, 2 seaplanes

There were many interesting innovations in the design of Project 69 ships, but in general, according to the “cost-effectiveness” criterion, they did not stand up to any criticism. Conceived as good cruisers, the Kronstadt and Sevastopol, in the process of “improving” the design, turned into bad battleships, too expensive and too difficult to build. In addition, the industry clearly did not have time to produce the main artillery for them. Out of despair, the idea arose to arm the ships instead of nine 305 mm guns with six German 380 mm guns, similar to those installed on the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. This gave an increase in displacement by another thousand-plus tons. However, the Germans were in no hurry to fulfill the order, of course, and by the beginning of the war not a single gun had arrived from Germany to the USSR.

The fate of “Kronstadt” and “Sevastopol” was similar to their counterparts such as “Soviet Union”. By June 22, 1941, their technical readiness was estimated at 12-13%. In September of the same year, the construction of “Kronstadt” was stopped, and “Sevastopol”, located in Nikolaev, was captured by the Germans even earlier. After the war, the hulls of both “supercruisers” were dismantled for metal.

The battleship Bismarck is the strongest ship of the Nazi fleet. Laid down in 1936, entered service in 1940. Total displacement - 50,900 tons. Length - 250.5 m, width - 36 m, draft - 10.6 m. Thickness of side armor - up to 320 mm, turrets - up to 360 mm. Armament: 8 - 380 mm and 12 - 150 mm guns, 16 - 105 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16 - 37 mm and 12 - 20 mm machine guns, 4 seaplanes

Last attempts

In total, 27 battleships of the latest generation were built in the world in 1936-1945: 10 in the USA, 5 in Great Britain, 4 in Germany, 3 each in France and Italy, 2 in Japan. And in none of the fleets did they live up to the hopes placed on them. The experience of World War II clearly showed that the time of battleships was over. Aircraft carriers became the new masters of the oceans: carrier-based aircraft, of course, were superior to naval artillery both in range and in the ability to hit targets in the most vulnerable places. So we can say with confidence that Stalin’s battleships, even if they had been built by June 1941, would not have played any noticeable role in the war.

But here’s a paradox: the Soviet Union, which spent somewhat less money on unnecessary ships compared to other states, decided to make up for lost time and became the only country in the world that continued to design battleships after World War II! Contrary to common sense, designers worked tirelessly for several years on drawings of the floating fortresses of yesterday. The successor of the “Soviet Union” was the Project 24 battleship with a total displacement of 81,150 tons (!), the successor of the “Kronstadt” was the 42,000-ton heavy cruiser of Project 82. In addition, this pair was complemented by another so-called “medium” cruiser of Project 66 with 220- mm main caliber artillery. Note that although the latter was called medium, its displacement (30,750 tons) left all foreign heavy cruisers far behind and was approaching battleships.

Battleship "Soviet Union", project 23 (USSR, laid down in 1938). Standard displacement - 59,150 tons, full displacement - 65,150 tons. Maximum length - 269.4 m, width - 38.9 m, draft - 10.4 m. Turbine power - 201,000 l. s., speed - 28 knots (with boost, respectively, 231,000 hp and 29 knots). Armament: 9 - 406 mm and 12 - 152 mm guns, 12 - 100 mm anti-aircraft guns, 40 - 37 mm machine guns, 4 seaplanes

The reasons that domestic shipbuilding in the post-war years clearly went against the grain are mainly subjective. And in the first place here are the personal preferences of the “leader of the peoples.” Stalin was very impressed by large artillery ships, especially fast ones, and at the same time he clearly underestimated aircraft carriers. During a discussion of the Project 82 heavy cruiser in March 1950, the Secretary General demanded that the designers increase the ship’s speed to 35 knots, “so that it would panic the enemy’s light cruisers, disperse them and destroy them. This cruiser must fly like a swallow, be a pirate, a real bandit.” Alas, on the threshold of the nuclear missile era, the Soviet leader’s views on issues of naval tactics were one and a half to two decades behind their time.

If projects 24 and 66 remained on paper, then according to project 82 in 1951-1952, three “bandit cruisers” were laid down - “Stalingrad”, “Moskva” and a third, which remained unnamed. But they did not have to enter service: on April 18, 1953, a month after Stalin’s death, the construction of the ships was stopped due to their high cost and complete uncertainty of tactical use. A section of the hull of the lead "Stalingrad" was launched and for several years was used to test various types of naval weapons, including torpedoes and cruise missiles. It’s very symbolic: the world’s last heavy artillery ship turned out to be in demand only as a target for new weapons...

Heavy cruiser "Stalingrad". Laid out in 1951, but not completed. Total displacement - 42,300 tons. Maximum length - 273.6 m, width - 32 m, draft - 9.2 m. Turbine power - 280,000 l. s., speed - 35.2 knots (65 km/h). The thickness of the side armor is up to 180 mm, the thickness of the turrets is up to 240 mm. Armament: 9 - 305 mm and 12 - 130 mm guns, 24 - 45 mm and 40 - 25 mm machine guns

The "supership" obsession

In conclusion, it should be noted that the desire to create a “supership”, stronger than any potential opponent of its class, puzzled designers and shipbuilders of different countries at different times. And here there is a pattern: the weaker the economy and industry of the state, the more active this desire is; for developed countries, on the contrary, it is less typical. Thus, in the interwar period, the British Admiralty preferred to build ships that were very modest in combat capabilities, but in large quantities, which ultimately made it possible to have a well-balanced fleet. Japan, on the contrary, sought to create ships stronger than the British and American ones - in this way it hoped to compensate for the difference in economic development with its future rivals.

In this regard, the shipbuilding policy of the then USSR occupies a special place. Here, after the decision of the party and government to build a “Big Fleet,” the obsession with “superships” was actually brought to the point of absurdity. On the one hand, Stalin, inspired by successes in the aviation industry and tank building, too hastily believed that all problems in the shipbuilding industries could be solved just as quickly. On the other hand, the atmosphere in society was such that the project of any ship proposed by industry and not superior in its capabilities to its foreign counterparts could easily be considered “sabotage” with all the ensuing consequences. Designers and shipbuilders simply had no choice: they were forced to design the “most powerful” and “fastest” ships, armed with the “world’s longest-range” artillery... In practice, this resulted in the following: ships with the size and armament of battleships began to be called heavy cruisers (but the strongest in the world!), heavy cruisers - light, and the latter - “destroyer leaders”. Such a substitution of one class for another would still make sense if domestic factories could build battleships in the quantities in which other countries built heavy cruisers. But since this was, to put it mildly, not at all true, the reports going to the top about the outstanding successes of the designers often looked like a banal fraud.

It is characteristic that almost all “superships” ever embodied in metal have not justified themselves. It is enough to cite the Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi as examples. They died under the bombs of American planes, without firing a single main-caliber salvo at their American “classmates.” But even if they had a chance to meet the US fleet in a linear battle, they could hardly count on success. After all, Japan was able to build only two battleships of the latest generation, and the United States - ten. With such a balance of forces, the individual superiority of “Yamato” over an individual “American” no longer plays any role.

World experience shows that several well-balanced ships are much better than one giant with exaggerated combat characteristics. And yet, in the USSR the idea of ​​a “supership” did not die. A quarter of a century later, the Stalinist leviathans had distant relatives - nuclear-powered missile cruisers of the Kirov type, followers of the Kronstadt and Stalingrad. However, this is a completely different story...

Battleship

Battleship(abbreviated from “battleship”) - a class of armored artillery warships with a displacement of 20 to 70 thousand tons, a length of 150 to 280 m, armed with main caliber guns from 280 to 460 mm, with a crew of 1500-2800 people. Battleships were used in the 20th century to destroy enemy ships as part of a combat formation and provide artillery support for ground operations. It was an evolutionary development of armadillos of the second half of the 19th century.

origin of name

Battleship is short for "ship of the line." This is how a new type of ship was named in Russia in 1907 in memory of the ancient wooden sailing ships of the line. It was initially assumed that the new ships would revive linear tactics, but this was soon abandoned.

The English analogue of this term - battleship (literally: warship) - also originated from sailing battleships. In 1794, the term "line-of-battle ship" was abbreviated as "battle ship". Later it was used in relation to any warship. Since the late 1880s, it has most often been applied unofficially to squadron ironclads. In 1892, the reclassification of the British Navy named the class of super-heavy ships with the word “battleship”, which included several particularly heavy squadron battleships.

But the real revolution in shipbuilding, which marked a truly new class of ships, was made by the construction of the Dreadnought, completed in 1906.

Dreadnoughts. "Big Guns Only"

The authorship of a new leap in the development of large artillery ships is attributed to the English Admiral Fisher. Back in 1899, while commanding the Mediterranean squadron, he noted that firing with the main caliber could be carried out over a much greater distance if one was guided by the splashes from falling shells. However, it was necessary to unify all artillery in order to avoid confusion in determining the bursts of main-caliber and medium-caliber artillery shells. Thus was born the concept of all-big-guns (only big guns), which formed the basis of a new type of ship. The effective firing range increased from 10-15 to 90-120 cables.

Other innovations that formed the basis of the new type of ship were centralized fire control from a single ship-wide post and the spread of electric drives, which speeded up the targeting of heavy guns. The guns themselves have also seriously changed, due to the transition to smokeless powder and new high-strength steels. Now only the lead ship could carry out zeroing, and those following in its wake were guided by the splashes of its shells. Thus, building in wake columns again made it possible in Russia in 1907 to return the term battleship. In the USA, England and France, the term “battleship” was not revived, and new ships continued to be called “battleship” or “cuirassé”. In Russia, “battleship” remained the official term, but in practice the abbreviation battleship.

Battlecruiser Hood.

The naval public accepted the new class ships capital ambiguous, particular criticism was caused by weak and incomplete armor protection. However, the British Navy continued the development of this type, first building 3 Indifatiable-class cruisers. Indefatigable) - an improved version of the Invincible, and then moved on to building battlecruisers with 343 mm artillery. They were 3 Lion-class cruisers. Lion), as well as the “Tiger” built in a single copy (eng. Tiger) . These ships had already surpassed their contemporary battleships in size and were very fast, but their armor, although stronger in comparison with the Invincible, still did not meet the requirements of combat with a similarly armed enemy.

Already during the First World War, the British continued to build battlecruisers in accordance with the concept of Fisher, who returned to leadership - the highest possible speed combined with the most powerful weapons, but with weak armor. As a result, the Royal Navy received 2 battlecruisers of the Renown class, as well as 2 light battlecruisers of the Coreyes class and 1 Furies class, and the latter began to be rebuilt into a semi-aircraft carrier even before commissioning. The last British battlecruiser to be commissioned was Hood, and its design was significantly changed after the Battle of Jutland, which was unsuccessful for British battlecruisers. The ship's armor was sharply strengthened, and it actually became a battleship-cruiser.

Battlecruiser Goeben.

German shipbuilders demonstrated a noticeably different approach to the design of battlecruisers. To a certain extent, sacrificing seaworthiness, cruising range and even firepower, they paid great attention to the armor protection of their battle cruisers and ensuring their unsinkability. Already the first German battlecruiser "Von der Tann" (German. Von der Tann), inferior to the Invincible in the weight of the broadside, it was noticeably superior to its British counterparts in security.

Subsequently, developing a successful project, the Germans introduced battle cruisers of the Moltke type (German: Moltke) into their fleet. Moltke) (2 units) and their improved version - “Seydlitz” (German. Seydlitz). Then the German fleet was replenished with battlecruisers with 305 mm artillery, versus 280 mm on early ships. They became "Derflinger" (German. Derfflinger), "Lützow" (German. Lützow) and "Hindenburg" (German) Hindenburg) - according to experts, the most successful battlecruisers of the First World War.

Battlecruiser "Congo".

Already during the war, the Germans laid down 4 Mackensen-class battlecruisers (German. Mackensen) and 3 types "Ersatz York" (German. Ersatz York). The former carried 350-mm artillery, while the latter planned to install 380-mm guns. Both types were distinguished by powerful armor protection at a moderate speed, but none of the ships that were built entered service until the end of the war.

Japan and Russia also wished to have battlecruisers. In 1913-1915, the Japanese fleet received 4 units of the Kongo type (Japanese: 金剛) - powerfully armed, fast, but poorly protected. The Russian Imperial Navy built 4 units of the Izmail class, which were distinguished by very powerful weapons, decent speed and good protection, surpassing the Gangut class battleships in all respects. The first 3 ships were launched in 1915, but later, due to the difficulties of the war years, their construction slowed down sharply and was ultimately stopped.

World War I

During the First World War, the German "Hochseeflotte" - High Seas Fleet and the English "Grand Fleet" spent most of the time at their bases, since the strategic importance of the ships seemed too great to risk them in battle. The only military clash of battleship fleets in this war (the Battle of Jutland) took place on May 31, 1916. The German fleet intended to lure the English fleet out of its bases and smash it piece by piece, but the British, having figured out the plan, took their entire fleet out to sea. Faced with superior forces, the Germans were forced to retreat, escaping traps several times and losing several of their ships (11 to 14 British). However, after this, until the very end of the war, the High Seas Fleet was forced to remain off the coast of Germany.

In total, during the war, not a single battleship sank from artillery fire alone; only three British battlecruisers were lost due to weak defenses during the Battle of Jutland. The main damage (22 dead ships) to the battleships was caused by minefields and submarine torpedoes, anticipating the future importance of the submarine fleet.

Russian battleships did not participate in naval battles - in the Baltic they stood in harbors, bound by the threat of mines and torpedoes, and in the Black Sea they had no worthy rivals, and their role was reduced to artillery bombing. The exception is the battle between the battleship Empress Catherine the Great and the battle cruiser Goeben, during which the Goeben, having received damage from the fire of the Russian battleship, managed to maintain its advantage in speed and went into the Bosporus. The battleship "Empress Maria" was lost in 1916 from an explosion of ammunition in the harbor of Sevastopol for an unknown reason.

Washington Maritime Agreement

The First World War did not put an end to the naval arms race, because the European powers were replaced as the owners of the largest fleets by America and Japan, which practically did not participate in the war. After the construction of the newest super-dreadnoughts of the Ise class, the Japanese finally believed in the capabilities of their shipbuilding industry and began to prepare their fleet to establish dominance in the region. A reflection of these aspirations was the ambitious “8+8” program, which provided for the construction of 8 new battleships and 8 equally powerful battlecruisers, with 410 mm and 460 mm guns. The first pair of ships of the Nagato class had already launched, two battlecruisers (with 5x2x410 mm) were on the slipways, when the Americans, concerned about this, adopted a response program to build 10 new battleships and 6 battlecruisers, not counting smaller ships. England, devastated by the war, also did not want to lag behind and planned the construction of ships of the “G-3” and “N-3” types, although it could no longer maintain the “double standard”. However, such a burden on the budgets of world powers was extremely undesirable in the post-war situation, and everyone was ready to make concessions in order to maintain the existing situation.

To counter the ever-increasing underwater threat on ships, the size of anti-torpedo protection zones was increasingly increasing. To protect against shells coming from afar, therefore, at a large angle, as well as from aerial bombs, the thickness of the armored decks was increasingly increased (up to 160-200mm), which received a spaced design. The widespread use of electric welding made it possible to make the structure not only more durable, but also provided significant savings in weight. Mine-caliber artillery moved from the side sponsons to the towers, where it had large firing angles. The number of anti-aircraft artillery was constantly increasing, divided into large-caliber and small-caliber, to repel attacks at long and short distances, respectively. Large-caliber and then small-caliber artillery received separate guidance posts. The idea of ​​a universal caliber was tested, which was high-speed, large-caliber guns with large aiming angles, suitable for repelling attacks by destroyers and high-altitude bombers.

All ships were equipped with onboard reconnaissance seaplanes with catapults, and in the second half of the 1930s the British began installing the first radars on their ships.

The military also had at its disposal many ships from the end of the “super-dreadnought” era, which were being modernized to meet new requirements. They received new machine installations to replace the old ones, more powerful and compact. However, their speed did not increase, and often even fell, due to the fact that the ships received large side attachments in the underwater part - boules - designed to improve resistance to underwater explosions. The main caliber turrets received new, enlarged embrasures, which made it possible to increase the firing range; thus, the firing range of the 15-inch guns of the Queen Elizabeth class ships increased from 116 to 160 cables.

In Japan, under the influence of Admiral Yamamoto, in the fight against their main supposed enemy - the United States - they relied on a general battle of all naval forces, due to the impossibility of a long-term confrontation with the United States. The main role was given to new battleships (although Yamamoto himself was against such ships), which were supposed to replace the unbuilt ships of the 8+8 program. Moreover, back in the late 20s, it was decided that within the framework of the Washington Agreement it would not be possible to create sufficiently powerful ships that would be superior to American ones. Therefore, the Japanese decided to ignore the restrictions, building ships of the highest possible power, called the "Yamato type". The world's largest ships (64 thousand tons) were equipped with record-breaking 460 mm caliber guns that fired shells weighing 1,460 kg. The thickness of the side belt reached 410 mm, however, the value of the armor was reduced by its lower quality compared to European and American ones. The huge size and cost of the ships led to the fact that only two were able to be completed - Yamato and Musashi.

Richelieu

In Europe, over the next few years, such ships as Bismarck (Germany, 2 units), King George V (Great Britain, 5 units), Littorio (Italy, 3 units), Richelieu (France, 3 units) were laid down. 2 pieces). Formally, they were bound by the restrictions of the Washington Agreement, but in reality all the ships exceeded the treaty limit (38-42 thousand tons), especially the German ones. The French ships were actually an enlarged version of the small battleships of the Dunkirk type and were of interest in that they had only two turrets, both at the bow of the ship, thus losing the ability to fire directly at the stern. But the turrets were 4-gun, and the dead angle in the stern was quite small. The ships were also interesting because of their strong anti-torpedo protection (up to 7 meters wide). Only the Yamato (up to 5 m, but the thick anti-torpedo bulkhead and large displacement of the battleship somewhat compensated for the relatively small width) and Littorio (up to 7.57 m, however, the original Pugliese system was used there) could compete with this indicator. The armor of these ships was considered one of the best among the 35-thousand-ton ships.

USS Massachusetts

In the United States, when building new ships, a maximum width requirement was imposed - 32.8 m - so that the ships could pass through the Panama Canal, which was owned by the United States. If for the first ships of the “North Caroline” and “South Dakota” type this did not yet play a big role, then for the last ships of the “Iowa” type, which had an increased displacement, it was necessary to use elongated, pear-shaped hull shapes. American ships were also distinguished by powerful 406 mm caliber guns with shells weighing 1225 kg, which is why all ten ships of the three new series had to sacrifice side armor (305 mm at an angle of 17 degrees on the North Caroline, 310 mm at an angle of 19 degrees -on the "South Dakota" and 307 mm at the same angle - on the "Iowa"), and on the six ships of the first two series - also at speed (27 knots). On four ships of the third series (“Iowa type”, due to the larger displacement, this drawback was partially corrected: the speed was increased (officially) to 33 knots, but the thickness of the belt was even reduced to 307 mm (although officially, for the purposes of the propaganda campaign, it was announced 457 mm), however, the thickness of the outer plating increased from 32 to 38 mm, but this did not play a significant role. The armament was somewhat strengthened, the main caliber guns became 5 calibers longer (from 45 to 50 cal.).

Operating together with the Tirpitz, the Scharnhorst in 1943 met with the English battleship Duke of York, the heavy cruiser Norfolk, the light cruiser Jamaica and destroyers and was sunk. During the breakthrough from Brest to Norway across the English Channel (Operation Cerberus), the same type of "Gneisenau" was heavily damaged by British aircraft (partial explosion of ammunition) and was not repaired until the end of the war.

The last battle in naval history directly between battleships took place on the night of October 25, 1944 in the Surigao Strait, when 6 American battleships attacked and sank the Japanese Fuso and Yamashiro. The American battleships anchored across the strait and fired broadsides with all main-caliber guns according to the radar bearing. The Japanese, who did not have ship radars, could only fire from the bow guns almost at random, focusing on the flashes of the muzzle flame of American guns.

Under changed circumstances, projects to build even larger battleships (the American Montana and the Japanese Super Yamato) were cancelled. The last battleship to enter service was the British Vanguard (1946), laid down before the war, but completed only after its end.

The impasse in the development of battleships was shown by the German projects H42 and H44, according to which a ship with a displacement of 120-140 thousand tons was supposed to have artillery with a caliber of 508 mm and deck armor of 330 mm. The deck, which had a much larger area than the armored belt, could not be protected against aerial bombs without excessive weight, while the decks of existing battleships were penetrated by bombs of 500 and 1000 kg caliber.

After World War II

After the war, most of the battleships were scrapped by 1960 - they were too expensive for war-weary economies and no longer had the same military value. Aircraft carriers and, a little later, nuclear submarines took on the role of the main carrier of nuclear weapons.

Only the United States used its latest battleships (New Jersey type) several more times for artillery support of ground operations, due to the relative, compared to airstrikes, cheapness of shelling the coast with heavy shells over areas, as well as the extreme firepower of the ships (after upgrading the system loading, in an hour of firing, the Iowa could fire about a thousand tons of shells, which is still inaccessible to any aircraft carrier). Although it must be admitted that having a very small amount of explosives (70 kg for 862 kg high-explosive and only 18 kg for 1225 kg armor-piercing) amount of explosives, the shells of American battleships were not the best suited for shelling the shore, and they never got around to developing a powerful high-explosive shell. Before the Korean War, all four Iowa-class battleships were reintroduced into service. In Vietnam, "New Jersey" was used.

Under President Reagan, these ships were removed from reserve and returned to service. They were called upon to become the core of new strike naval groups, for which they were rearmed and became capable of carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles (8 4-charge containers) and Harpoon-type anti-ship missiles (32 missiles). "New Jersey" took part in the shelling of Lebanon in -1984, and "Missouri" and "Wisconsin" fired their main caliber at ground targets during the first Gulf War. Firing Iraqi positions and stationary objects with the main caliber of battleships with the same effectiveness turned out to be much cheaper than a rocket one. Also, well-protected and spacious battleships proved effective as headquarters ships. However, the high costs of re-equipping old battleships (300-500 million dollars each) and the high costs of their maintenance led to the fact that all four ships were again withdrawn from service in the nineties of the 20th century. The New Jersey was sent to the Camden Naval Museum, the Missouri became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, the Iowa is mothballed at the Reserve Fleet in Susan Bay, California, and the Wisconsin maintained in Class B conservation at Norfolk Maritime Museum. However, the combat service of the battleships can be resumed, since during mothballing, legislators especially insisted on maintaining combat readiness of at least two of the four battleships.

Although battleships are now absent from the operational composition of the world's navies, their ideological successor is called “arsenal ships”, carriers of a large number of cruise missiles, which should become a kind of floating missile depots located near the coast to launch missile strikes on it if necessary. There is talk about the creation of such ships in American maritime circles, but to date not a single such ship has been built.

In times long past... on the high seas, he [the battleship] feared nothing. There was not a shadow of a feeling of defenselessness from possible attacks from destroyers, submarines or aircraft, nor trembling thoughts about enemy mines or air torpedoes, there was essentially nothing, with the exception of perhaps a severe storm, drift to a leeward shore or a concentrated attack of several equal opponents, which could shake the proud confidence of a sailing ship of the line in its own indestructibility, which it assumed with every right. - Oscar Parks. Battleships of the British Empire.

Background

Many interconnected technological advances and circumstances led to the emergence of battleships as the main force of navies.

The technology of building wooden ships, considered today classic - first the frame, then the plating - was formed in the Mediterranean basin during the 1st millennium AD. e. and began to dominate at the beginning of the next one. Thanks to its advantages, it eventually replaced the previously existing construction methods, starting with cladding: Roman, used in the Mediterranean, with cladding consisting of boards, the edges of which were connected with tenons, and clinker, used from Rus' to the Basque Country in Spain, with cladding overlapping and inserted into finished body with transverse reinforcement ribs. In southern Europe, this transition finally took place before the middle of the 14th century, in England - around 1500, and in Northern Europe, merchant ships with clinker lining (holkas) were built back in the 16th century, possibly later. In most European languages, this method was denoted by derivatives of the word carvel (à carvel, carvel-built, Kraweelbauweise)- probably from caravel, “caravel”, that is, initially - a ship built starting with a frame and with smooth plating.

The new technology gave shipbuilders a number of advantages. The presence of a frame on the ship made it possible to accurately determine in advance its dimensions and the nature of its contours, which, with the previous technology, became fully obvious only during the construction process. Since then, ships have been built according to pre-approved plans. In addition, the new technology made it possible to significantly increase the dimensions of ships, both due to greater hull strength and due to reduced requirements for the width of the boards used for plating, which made it possible to use lower quality wood for the construction of ships. The qualification requirements for the workforce involved in construction were also reduced, which made it possible to build ships faster and in much larger quantities than before.

In the 14th-15th centuries, gunpowder artillery began to be used on ships, but initially, due to the inertia of thinking, it was placed on superstructures intended for archers: forecastle and sterncastle, which limited the permissible mass of guns for reasons of maintaining stability. Later, artillery began to be installed along the side in the middle of the ship, which largely removed the restrictions on the mass and, therefore, the caliber of the guns, but aiming them at the target was very difficult, since fire was fired through round holes made to the size of the gun barrel in the sides, in the stowed position. position plugged from the inside. Real gun ports with covers appeared only towards the end of the 15th century, which paved the way for the creation of heavily armed artillery ships. True, loading the guns still remained a big problem - even in the days of Mary Rose, the most advanced muzzle-loading guns at that time had to be loaded from the outside of the hull, since the tightness of the internal space of the gun deck of ships of that era did not allow them to be dragged inside (it was because of this that on ships For a long time they used breech-loading bombards, which were very unreliable and were inferior in characteristics to the muzzle-loading guns of their time). Because of this, reloading guns in battle was practically excluded - heavy artillery was saved for one single salvo during the entire battle immediately before the boarding dump. However, this salvo often decided the outcome of the entire battle.

Only in the second quarter of the 16th century did ships begin to appear, the design of which allowed for the convenient reloading of heavy artillery during a battle, which made it possible to fire in repeated salvoes from a long distance, without the risk of losing the ability to use it in the event of approaching boarding distance. Thus, the Spaniard Alonso de Chavez, in his work “Espejo de Navegantes” (“Mirror of the Navigator”), published in 1530, recommended dividing the fleet into two parts: the first approached the enemy and conducted a classic boarding battle, the second, acting on the flanks of the main forces , exhausted him with artillery fire from a long distance. These recommendations were developed by British sailors and applied during the Anglo-Spanish War.

So, over the course of the 16th century, a complete change in the nature of naval battles occurred: rowing galleys, which had previously been the main warships for thousands of years, gave way to sailing ships armed with artillery, and boarding combat to artillery.

Mass production of heavy artillery pieces was very difficult for a long time. Therefore, until the 19th century, the largest ones installed on ships remained 32...42-pounders (based on the mass of the corresponding solid cast-iron core), with a bore diameter of no more than 170 mm. But working with them during loading and aiming was very complicated due to the lack of mechanization and servos - such guns weighed several tons each, which necessitated the need for a huge gun crew. Therefore, for centuries, they tried to arm ships with as many relatively small guns as possible, located along the side. At the same time, for reasons of strength, the length of a warship with a wooden hull is limited to approximately 70...80 meters, which also limited the length of the onboard battery: several dozen heavy guns could only be placed in several rows, one above the other. This is how warships arose with several closed gun decks - decks - carrying from several dozen to hundreds or more guns of various calibers.

In the 16th century, cast iron cannons began to be used in England, which were a great technological innovation due to their lower cost relative to bronze and less labor-intensive manufacturing compared to iron ones, and at the same time having better characteristics. Superiority in naval artillery manifested itself during the battles of the English fleet with the Invincible Armada (1588) and since then began to determine the strength of the fleet of any state, making massive boarding battles history. After this, boarding is used solely for the purpose of capturing an enemy ship that has already been disabled by gunfire. By this time, artillery had reached a certain degree of perfection, the characteristics of the guns had more or less stabilized, which made it possible to quite accurately determine the strength of a warship based on the number of guns, and to build systems for their classification.

In the middle of the 17th century, the first scientific systems for designing ships and methods of mathematical calculation appeared. Introduced around the 1660s by the English shipbuilder Anthony Dean, the method of determining the displacement and waterline level of a ship based on its total mass and the shape of its contours made it possible to calculate in advance at what height from the sea surface the ports of the lower gun deck would be located, and to position the decks accordingly and the guns are still on the slipway - previously this required lowering the ship’s hull into the water. This made it possible to determine the firepower of the future ship at the design stage, as well as to avoid accidents like what happened with the Swedish Vasa due to gun ports being too low. In addition, on ships with powerful artillery, part of the gun ports was necessarily on the frames. Only frames that were not cut by ports were power-bearing, so precise coordination of their relative positions was important.

History of appearance

The immediate predecessors of battleships were heavily armed galleons, carracks and so-called "big ships" (Great Ships). The first specially built artillery ship is sometimes considered the English "Mary Rose" (1510) - although in fact it retained many features that indicate an orientation primarily towards boarding combat (very high superstructures-towers in the bow and stern, anti-boarding nets stretched over deck in the middle part of the hull during the battle, a large boarding crew, the number of soldiers in which was almost equal to the number of ship sailors) and in fact was more of a transitional type to a well-armed artillery ship. The Portuguese attribute the honor of their invention to their king João II (1455-1495), who ordered the arming of several caravels with heavy guns.

Until the end of the 16th-17th centuries, there was no strictly established order in the battle; after the warring parties came together, the sea battle turned into a chaotic dump of individual ships. A terrible weapon in such conditions were fire ships - old ships that were stuffed with flammable and explosive substances, set on fire and launched at the enemy.

The use of formation in wake columns in battle began towards the end of the 16th century, but its widespread adoption took at least 100 years (1590-1690), since the use of linear tactics required specific changes in the design of ships, as well as the introduction of a certain degree of standardization. During this period, Britain's wartime Royal Navy consisted of a "core" of purpose-built warships and numerous requisitioned "merchants". However, it soon became clear that with a linear formation, such heterogeneity of ships in terms of seaworthiness and combat qualities is extremely inconvenient - weaker ships, when placed in a battle line, turned out to be the “weak link” of the chain due to worse performance and less resistance to enemy fire. It was then that the final division of sailing ships into combat and merchant ships took place, and the former were divided according to the number of guns into several categories - ranks. The belonging of ships to the same rank guaranteed their ability to operate in the same formation with each other.

The first real battleships appeared in the fleets of European countries at the beginning of the 17th century, and the first three-decker (three-deck) battleship is considered to be the 55-gun HMS Prince Royal (1610). It was followed by the even larger and well-armed three-decker, 100-gun HMS Sovereign of the Seas (1637), which was one of the largest (and most expensive) ships of its time.

The French responded with the laying of the two-deck, 72-gun battleship La Couronne (1636), which set the standard for a more moderately sized and cheaper, but still quite powerful, battleship. This marked the beginning of a long-term “arms race” between the main European naval powers, the main instrument of which was battleships.

Battleships were lighter and shorter than the “tower ships” that existed at that time - galleons, which made it possible to quickly line up with the side facing the enemy, when the bow of the subsequent ship looked at the stern of the previous one.

Also, battleships differ from galleons in having straight sails on a mizzen mast (galleons had from three to five masts, of which usually one or two were “dry”, with oblique sails), the absence of a long horizontal latrine at the bow and a rectangular tower at the stern , and maximum use of the free area of ​​the sides for the guns. The lower hull increased stability, which made it possible to increase windage by installing taller masts. A battleship is more maneuverable and stronger than a galleon in artillery combat, while a galleon is better suited for boarding combat. Unlike galleons, which were also used to transport trade cargo, battleships were built exclusively for naval combat, and only as an exception sometimes carried a certain number of troops on board.

The resulting multi-deck sailing battleships were the main means of warfare at sea for more than 250 years and allowed countries such as Holland, Great Britain and Spain to create huge trading empires.

By the middle of the 17th century, a clear division of battleships into classes arose depending on their purpose, and the basis for the classification was the number of guns. Thus, the old two-deck (with two closed gun decks) ships, which had about 50 guns, turned out to be not strong enough for linear combat as part of a squadron, and were used mainly for escorting convoys. Double-decker battleships, carrying from 64 to 90 guns, made up the bulk of the war fleets, while three- or even four-decker ships (98-144 guns) served as flagships. A fleet of 10-25 such ships made it possible to control sea trade lines and, in the event of war, close them to the enemy.

Battleships should be distinguished from frigates. Frigates had either only one closed battery, or one closed and one open battery on the upper deck. The sailing equipment of battleships and frigates was fundamentally the same - three masts, each of which had straight sails. Initially, frigates were inferior to battleships in terms of performance, having superiority only in cruising range and autonomy. However, subsequently, improvement of the contours of the underwater part of the hull allowed the frigates, with the same sail area, to develop a higher speed, making them the fastest among large warships (faster than the frigates were the armed clippers that only appeared in the 19th century as part of some fleets, but they were a very specific type of ship , generally unsuitable for military operations). Battleships, in turn, were superior to frigates in terms of artillery firepower (often several times) and the height of their sides (which was important during boarding and, partly, from the point of view of seaworthiness), but were inferior to them in speed and cruising range, as well as could not operate in shallow water.

Battleship tactics

With the increase in the strength of the warship and with the improvement of its seaworthiness and fighting qualities, an equal success has appeared in the art of using them... As sea evolutions become more skillful, their importance increases day by day. These evolutions needed a base, a point from which they could depart and to which they could return. A fleet of warships must always be ready to meet the enemy; therefore, it is logical that the combat formation should be such a base for naval evolutions. Further, with the abolition of galleys, almost all the artillery moved to the sides of the ship, which is why it became necessary to always keep the ship in such a position that the enemy was abeam. On the other hand, it is necessary that not a single ship in its fleet can interfere with firing at enemy ships. Only one system can fully satisfy these requirements, this is the wake system. The latter, therefore, was chosen as the only combat formation, and therefore as the basis for all fleet tactics. At the same time, they realized that in order for the battle formation, this long thin line of guns, not to be damaged or torn at its weakest point, it is necessary to introduce into it only ships, if not of equal strength, then at least with equal strength. strong sides. It logically follows from this that at the same time as the wake column becomes the final battle formation, a distinction is established between battleships, which alone are intended for it, and smaller vessels for other purposes. - Alfred T. Mahan

The term “battleship” itself arose due to the fact that in battle, multi-deck ships began to line up one after another - so that during their salvo they would be turned broadside towards the enemy, because the greatest damage to the target was caused by a salvo from all onboard guns. This tactic was called linear. Formation in a line during a naval battle first began to be used by the fleets of England, Spain and Holland at the beginning of the 17th century and was considered the main one until the middle of the 19th century. Linear tactics also did a good job of protecting the squadron leading the battle from attacks by fireships.

It is worth noting that in a number of cases, fleets consisting of battleships could vary tactics, often deviating from the canons of the classic firefight of two wake columns running parallel courses. Thus, at Camperdown, the British were unable to line up in the correct wake column and attacked the Dutch battle line with a formation close to the front line followed by a disorderly dump, and at Trafalgar they attacked the French line with two columns running across each other, wisely using the advantages of longitudinal fire, inflicting not separated by transverse bulkheads caused terrible damage to wooden ships (at Trafalgar, Admiral Nelson used tactics developed by Admiral Ushakov). Although these were unusual cases, even within the framework of the general paradigm of linear tactics, the squadron commander often had sufficient space for bold maneuver, and the skippers for showing their own initiative.

Design features and combat qualities

Although in comparison with all-metal ships of subsequent eras, wooden battleships were relatively small, nevertheless they were structures of an impressive scale for their time. Thus, the total height of the mainmast of Nelson’s flagship, the Victory, was approximately 67 m (higher than a 20-story building), and the longest yard reached a length of 30 m, or almost 60 m with extended lisels. Of course, all work with the spar and rigging was done entirely by hand, which required a huge crew of up to 1000 people.

The wood for the construction of battleships (usually oak, less often teak or mahogany) was selected in the most careful manner, soaked (stained) and dried for a number of years, after which it was carefully laid in several layers. The side skin was double - inside and outside of the frames. The thickness of the outer plating alone on some battleships reached 60 cm at the gondeck (at the Spanish Santisima Trinidad), and the total thickness of the inner and outer was up to 37 inches (that is, about 95 cm). The British built ships with relatively thin plating, but often spaced frames, in the area of ​​which the total thickness of the side of the gondeck reached 70-90 cm of solid wood. Between the frames, the total thickness of the side, formed by only two layers of skin, was less and reached 2 feet (60 cm). For greater speed, French battleships were built with thinner frames, but thicker plating - up to 70 cm between frames in total.

To protect the underwater part from rot and fouling, an outer skin made of thin strips of soft wood was placed on it, which was regularly changed during the timbering process in a dry dock. Subsequently, at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, copper cladding began to be used for the same purposes.

Even in the absence of real iron armor, battleships were still protected to some extent and at a certain distance from enemy fire, in addition:

...wooden sailing [linear] ships and frigates, according to the offensive weapons of that time, had a high degree of survivability. They were not invulnerable, most of the cannonballs penetrated their sides, however, what they lacked in invulnerability they made up for in survivability. Damage to two or three yards and sails did not deprive the ship of its ability to be steered. The damage to two or three dozen guns did not prevent the others from continuing their artillery fire. Finally, the control of the entire ship was carried out by people without the help of steam engines, and there were no such devices, the knocking out or damage of which would make the ship unsuitable for battle... - S. O. Makarov. Reasoning on issues of naval tactics.

In battle, they were usually disabled by shooting at the spar, the defeat of the crew or fire, in some cases they were captured by the boarding crew after exhausting their ability to resist, and as a result passed from hand to hand for decades until they became victims of fire, dry rot or a wood-boring beetle. The sinking of a battleship in battle was rare, since flooding with water through relatively small holes from cannonballs usually located above the waterline was insignificant, and the pumps available on the ship could cope with it quite well, and the holes themselves were sealed from the inside - with wooden plugs, or from the outside - right during the battle - cloth plaster.

It was this factor that became decisive in establishing English naval dominance in the Atlantic during the Seven Years' War, when the French fleet, equipped with technically more advanced ships, lost battles to more experienced English sailors, which led to the loss of the French colonies in the West Indies and Canada. After this, England rightfully bore the title of mistress of the seas, supporting it with the so-called. “double standard”, that is, maintaining such a fleet size that it was possible to counteract the two next strongest fleets in the world.

Russian-Turkish wars

Napoleonic wars

This time Russia and England are allies. Accordingly, Napoleonic France was confronted by two of the strongest naval powers at that time. And if the Russian-Austrian army was defeated at Austerlitz, then at sea the British and Russian fleets, on the contrary, won one victory after another. In particular, the English under the command of Admiral Nelson completely defeated the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, and the Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Ushakov, for the first time in the history of military fleets, captured the fortress of Corfu by storm from the sea with the direct participation of naval warships. (Before this, the naval fortress was almost always stormed only by assault troops landing by the fleet, while the ships of the fleet did not participate in the attack on the fortress, but only blocked the fortress from the sea.)

Sunset of sailing battleships

Between the end of the 18th and the middle of the 19th century, the development of battleships proceeded almost exclusively along an extensive path: the ships became larger and carried a larger number of heavier guns, but their design and combat qualities changed very little, in fact having already reached the perfection possible with the existing level of technology. The main innovations during this period consisted of increasing the level of standardization and improving individual elements of the hull design, as well as the increasingly widespread introduction of iron as a structural material.

• List of men-of-war 1650-1700. Part II. French ships 1648-1700.
• Histoire de la Marine Francaise. French naval history.
• Les Vaisseaux du roi Soleil. Contain for instance list of ships 1661 to 1715 (1-3 rates). Author: J.C Lemineur: 1996 ISBN 2-906381-22-5

05/24/2016 at 20:10 · Pavlofox · 22 250

The largest battleships in the world

Battleships first appeared in the 17th century. For some time they lost the palm to slow-moving battleships. But at the beginning of the 20th century, battleships became the main force of the fleet. The speed and range of artillery pieces became the main advantages in naval battles. Countries concerned about increasing the power of the navy, since the 1930s of the 20th century, began to actively build super-powerful battleships designed to enhance superiority at sea. Not everyone could afford the construction of incredibly expensive ships. The largest battleships in the world - in this article we will talk about super-powerful giant ships.

10. Richelieu | Length 247.9 m

The ranking of the largest battleships in the world opens with the French giant "" with a length of 247.9 meters and a displacement of 47 thousand tons. The ship was named in honor of the famous French statesman Cardinal Richelieu. A battleship was built to counter the Italian navy. The battleship Richelieu did not conduct active combat operations, except for participation in the Senegalese operation in 1940. In 1968, the supership was scrapped. One of his guns is installed as a monument in the port of Brest.

9. Bismarck | Length 251 m

The legendary German ship "" ranks 9th among the largest battleships in the world. The length of the vessel is 251 meters, displacement – ​​51 thousand tons. Bismarck left the shipyard in 1939. German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler was present at its launching. One of the most famous ships of the Second World War was sunk in May 1941 after prolonged fighting by British ships and torpedo bombers in retaliation for the destruction of the British flagship, the cruiser Hood, by a German battleship.

8. Tirpitz | Ship 253.6 m

In 8th place on the list of the largest battleships is the German "". The length of the vessel was 253.6 meters, displacement - 53 thousand tons. After the death of her “elder brother,” Bismarck, the second of the most powerful German battleships practically did not manage to take part in naval battles. Launched in 1939, the Tirpitz was destroyed in 1944 by torpedo bombers.

7. Yamato | Length 263 m

" - one of the largest battleships in the world and the largest warship in history ever sunk in a naval battle.

"Yamato" (in translation the name of the ship means the ancient name of the Land of the Rising Sun) was the pride of the Japanese Navy, although due to the fact that the huge ship was taken care of, the attitude of ordinary sailors towards it was ambiguous.

Yamato entered service in 1941. The length of the battleship was 263 meters, displacement - 72 thousand tons. Crew – 2500 people. Until October 1944, Japan's largest ship practically did not participate in battles. In Leyte Gulf, the Yamato opened fire on American ships for the first time. As it turned out later, none of the main calibers hit the target.

The Last March of Japan's Pride

On April 6, 1945, the Yamato set out on its last voyage. American troops landed on Okinawa, and the remnants of the Japanese fleet were given the task of destroying enemy forces and supply ships. The Yamato and the rest of the formation's vessels came under a two-hour attack by 227 American deck ships. Japan's largest battleship went out of action, receiving about 23 hits from aerial bombs and torpedoes. As a result of the explosion of the bow compartment, the ship sank. Of the crew, 269 people survived, 3 thousand sailors died.

6. Musashi | Length 263 m

The largest battleships in the world include "" with a hull length of 263 meters and a displacement of 72 thousand tons. This is the second giant battleship built by Japan during World War II. The ship entered service in 1942. The fate of "Musashi" turned out to be tragic. The first trip ended with a hole in the bow resulting from a torpedo attack by an American submarine. In October 1944, Japan's two largest battleships finally engaged in serious combat. In the Sibuyan Sea they were attacked by American aircraft. By chance, the enemy's main blow was delivered to Musashi. The ship sank after being hit by about 30 torpedoes and aerial bombs. Along with the ship, its captain and more than a thousand crew members died.

On March 4, 2015, 70 years after the sinking, the sunken Musashi was discovered by American millionaire Paul Allen. It is located in the Sibuyan Sea at a depth of one and a half kilometers. Musashi ranks 6th on the list of the largest battleships in the world.

Incredibly, the Soviet Union never built a single super battleship. In 1938, the battleship "" was laid down. The length of the ship was supposed to be 269 meters, and the displacement was 65 thousand tons. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the battleship was 19% complete. It was never possible to complete the ship, which could have become one of the largest battleships in the world.

4. Wisconsin | Length 270 m

The American battleship "" is ranked 4th in the ranking of the largest battleships in the world. It was 270 meters long and had a displacement of 55 thousand tons. It went into operation in 1944. During World War II, he accompanied aircraft carrier groups and supported landing operations. Was deployed during the Gulf War. Wisconsin is one of the last battleships in the US Navy Reserve. Was decommissioned in 2006. The ship is now docked in Norfolk.

3. Iowa | Length 270 m

"with a length of 270 meters and a displacement of 58 thousand tons, it ranks 3rd in the ranking of the largest battleships in the world. The ship entered service in 1943. During World War II, Iowa actively participated in combat operations. In 2012, the battleship was withdrawn from the fleet. Now the ship is in the port of Los Angeles as a museum.

2. New Jersey | Length 270.53 m

Second place in the ranking of the largest battleships in the world is occupied by the American ship "Black Dragon". Its length is 270.53 meters. Refers to the Iowa-class battleships. Left the shipyard in 1942. The New Jersey is a true veteran of naval battles and the only ship that took part in the Vietnam War. Here he performed the role of supporting the army. After 21 years of service, it was withdrawn from the fleet in 1991 and received museum status. Now the ship is parked in the city of Camden.

1. Missouri | Length 271 m

The American battleship "" tops the list of the largest battleships in the world. It is interesting not only because of its impressive size (the length of the ship is 271 meters), but also because it is the last American battleship. In addition, the Missouri went down in history due to the fact that the surrender of Japan was signed on board in September 1945.

The supership was launched in 1944. Its main task was to escort Pacific aircraft carrier formations. Participated in the Gulf War, where he opened fire for the last time. In 1992, he was withdrawn from the US Navy. Since 1998, the Missouri has had the status of a museum ship. The parking lot of the legendary ship is located in Pearl Harbor. Being one of the most famous warships in the world, it has been shown more than once in documentaries and feature films.

High hopes were placed on super-powerful ships. It is characteristic that they never justified themselves. Here is an illustrative example of the largest battleships ever built by man - the Japanese battleships Musashi and Yamato. They were both defeated by an attack by American bombers, without having time to fire at enemy ships from their main calibers. However, if they met in battle, the advantage would still be on the side of the American fleet, which by that time was equipped with ten battleships against two Japanese giants.

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